Labour’s shadow housing minister and leading developers have forged an unlikely alliance to persuade the government to rethink its new planning guidance.
Emma Reynolds, councils and the Westminster Property Association have urged housing minister Brandon Lewis to review the “vacant building credit” amid fears it will drastically cut council affordable housing funds.
Responding to EG revelations last week that the policy could cause Westminster council to lose £1bn pa from its affordable housing pool, Reynolds said the government’s housing policy was “in chaos”.
“It is quite something when those who might benefit the most from this ill-thought-through policy are calling for it to be scrapped,” said Reynolds.
Introduced by Lewis in November 2014, the vacant building credit allows for buildings that are vacant when planning is secured for residential conversion to pay an affordable contribution only on any new space. Prior to the credit, the provision was levied on the full size of the building.
The City of London Corporation led outraged reactions from several London boroughs, claiming the policy would lose it £8m a year.
Lewis has argued that the policy would encourage developers to bring empty buildings back into use.
Westminster Property Association chairman Daniel Van Gelder said it would encourage more office to residential schemes, exacerbating the office supply squeeze.
